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The fossilized crania of three long-snouted cetaceans.

The Mystery of Ancient Dolphins’ Super-Long Snouts

A new study suggests the extinct cetaceans used their snouts to hit and stun prey, much as swordfish do

Doug E. Fresh, beatboxing pioneer, lays it down.

New Research

This Is What Happens Inside a Beatboxer’s Mouth When They Perform

MRI scans of vocal percussionists show that beatboxing takes the vocal tract beyond human language

A trip to the British Museum may be one of the social prescribing options outlined by U.K. doctors

British Doctors May Soon Prescribe Art, Music, Dance, Singing Lessons

Campaign is expected to launch across the entire U.K. by 2023

Researchers say the shift in laugh patterns doesn't appear to be linked with any major developmental milestones

Babies Share Same Laugh Patterns as Chimpanzees

Unlike adults, who tend to laugh while exhaling, infants let giggles loose while both inhaling and exhaling

New Research

Ancient Ape Was Just the Size of a House Cat

12.5 million-year-old teeth found in Kenya belonged to a species that ate leaves, but was likely outcompeted by an explosion of monkeys

Why Experts Are Troubled by a Viral Video of a Baby Bear’s Mountain Climb

The cub and its mother appear to have been disturbed by the drone that shot the footage

Trending Today

Chicago Cancels Sale of Kerry James Marshall’s ‘Knowledge and Wonder’

The site-specific mural, featuring black children and adults gazing at the marvels of the universe, will not go up for auction following intense criticism

When in Rome...

New Research

The Physics of a Perfect Pizza

It takes just the right amount of heat and conduction to turn dough into the perfect Roman Margherita pizza

A platypus living in the most contaminated site could be routinely exposed to up to half of an adult human’s daily dose of antidepressants

Australian Rivers Are Contaminated With Pharmaceuticals. That’s Bad News For Platypuses, Study Says

The team found evidence of human medications in every insect tested, including those from national park previously believed to be free of contaminants

Jell-O salad, anyone?

Sweden’s Disgusting Food Museum Is Not for the Faint of Stomach

But the museum isn’t trying to make visitors lose their lunch; instead, it hopes to highlight the cultural subjectivity of food

A Victorian era time capsule marks one of the project's most unique early finds

10,000 Years of British History to Be Unearthed in Excavations in Advance of Planned Rail Line

Initial finds include hunter-gatherer site on outskirts of London, Wars of the Roses battlefield, Industrial Revolution burial guard

Cool Finds

This Remote Control Vest Trains Rescue Dogs Using Flashlights

By aiming little spots of light, handlers can direct their fearless doggos through disaster areas

An Inaccessible Island rail

How a Flightless Bird Ended Up on an Island 1,550 Miles Away From Any Mainland

New genetic analysis suggests the bird did not walk to Inaccessible Island, as scientists in the past suggested

People crowding in front of Selma's House on the opening day of the Louis Armstrong House Museum in 2003.

Preserving the Home of Selma Heraldo, Neighbor and Friend of Louis Armstrong

Heraldo bequeathed her home to the Louis Armstrong House Museum, which plans to renovate the property with the help of a sizable city grant

Édouard Manet, "La Négresse (Portrait of Laure)," 1863. Collection Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin.

Exhibition Re-Examines Modernism’s Black Models

Curator Denise Murrell looks at the unheralded black women featured in some of art history’s masterpieces

Abnormalities identified included misshapen skulls and jaws, bowed femur and arm bones

Did Rampant Inbreeding Contribute to Early Humans’ High Rate of Skeletal Deformities?

Researcher identified 75 skeletal or dental defects in sample of just 66 sets of ancient remains

Ganymedes and the heron.

Cool Finds

Recently Unearthed Roman Latrine Was Full of Dirty Jokes

Mosaics uncovered in a Roman bathroom in modern-day Turkey reminds us that bathroom humor has ancient roots

Species in the Northwest Atlantic, like this red tree coral, are threatened by ocean acidification, which may be causing the dissolution of the sea floor.

Parts of the Ocean Floor Are Disintegrating—And It’s Our Fault

A new study has found that calcium carbonate on the sea floor is dissolving too quickly in an effort to keep up with excess carbon dioxide

A fin whale picked out from satellite imagery

New Research

Researchers Can Now Monitor Whales Via Satellite

The latest high resolution satellites can pick out whales surfacing in huge swaths of ocean, which will aid in conservation

Llama antibodies are smaller than human ones, making them ideal for latching onto hard-to-reach areas of flu virus strains

Llama Antibodies May Be the Key to Flu Prevention

Researchers have created a llama-inspired mega protein capable of neutralizing 59 different strains of influenza

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